


Aboard A Dinky Little Houseboat

by A_Small_Collection_Of_Nonsense



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:27:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25002361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Small_Collection_Of_Nonsense/pseuds/A_Small_Collection_Of_Nonsense
Summary: Beakley stiffened, looking out towards the ocean –reallylooking now, not just resting her eyes in that general direction whilst she lost herself within her own stories – and saw past the bow that dark grey clouds were approaching, and the waters ahead were beginning to roughen, and fast.Webby seemed to notice too, looking to her Granny with concern as one by one the other McDucks noticed the Gyalaich Square’s signature sudden storms quickly approached
Relationships: Bentina Beakley & Della Duck, Bentina Beakley & Donald Duck, Bentina Beakley & Scrooge McDuck, Bentina Beakley & Webby Vanderquack, Della Duck & Donald Duck, Della Duck & Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck & Scroge McDuck
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Aboard A Dinky Little Houseboat

**Author's Note:**

> TW'S INCLUDE SPOILERS
> 
> tw: Death, Drowning

The night was dark, and the cold, salty, and inviting smell of the sea filled the air of the dinky little Houseboat.  
  
Perhaps it should’ve been peaceful, a momentary escape from the noise and heat of the city, a glance into the calming, and oh so inviting depths of the water that gently rocked the boat to and fro.  
However, throughout history, entire McDuck families being crammed into tiny Houseboats leaves little room for peace and quiet.

  
‘DEWFORD DUCK’  
‘ _Heeeey_ , how’s it hanging Uncle D?’  
“YOU CAN _NOT_ SAY THAT WHILST DANGLING FROM THE BOW OF THE HOUSEBOAT”  
‘I might not know what a bow is-‘  
‘IT’S THE THING HE’S HANGING OFF OF, DELLA’  
‘-but I am equally annoyed!’  
‘Ye don’t sound annoyed, lass’ Scrooge, who had been observing the conversation from the open doorway leading to the bridge where Beakley was steering the ship, pointed out  
‘Well I mean I’m like worried he’ll drown but at the same time-‘ Della’s I’m-trying-to-be-stern-and-failing expression shifted to one of pride and excitement, ‘-LOOK AT HOW WELL HE’S DOING AT HANGING ONTO THAT POLE THINGY I’M SO PROUD-‘  
‘IT’S CALLED A _BOWSPRIT_ ’ Donald, who at this point was dangling a net underneath Dewey and giving him a look that said let go or so help me, yelled back, whilst Dewey didn’t dare drop down onto the net, fear of his Uncle’s bad luck getting him drowned overtaking him.  
  
“It’s a rather pathetic looking bowsprit, I must say” Beakley called through from the bridge, ‘It seems too small and thin to even drop anchor from’  
‘Why does Beakley even know this much about boats?’ asked Louie, walking onto the deck from inside and not looking up from his phone, ‘and why hasn’t it like come up or something?’  
Beakley muttered something about being a spy and classified information, whilst Donald was threatening to murder her for daring to insult his precious Houseboat, but was as of yet unable to unleash his full anger over, given the Dewey situation.  
  
‘I can get him down!’ Webby piped up cheerfully from her place on the roof of the bridge, to which Dewey groaned ‘Ugh, why is Webby allowed to hang out on the rood but I’m not allowed to hang out on the bowspirit thingy!’  
‘Yeah Beakley, why _is_ Webby allowed to sit on the roof?!’ Donald asked indignantly with a spiteful glare on his face  
‘Because Webby knows what she’s doing’  
‘SHE’S _TWELVE_ SHE SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED ON THE ROOF’  
‘You can talk to me about raising my child when yours’ isn’t hanging off the bowsprit’  
Donald groaned, seemingly having depleted his anger as Dewey finally gave in and dropped onto the net, allowing his Uncle to not so gently drop him onto the deck and begin to frantically check him over.  
  
‘What did I just miss?’ Huey asked, coming up the stairs and standing next to Louie, as he had been reading indoors throughout the whole fiasco. Louie shrugged in response, ‘Nothing much, just Dewey existing’  
‘He’s still doing that?’  
‘Yeah, I thought he would’ve given up by now’ Louie snickered with his brother, whilst Dewey glared with his arms crossed sulkily across his chest as Donald deemed him un-injured.  
  
‘Beakley you’ve been steering for an hour – let me’ Donald called, making his way up to the bridge, and Beakley rolled her eyes ‘Why don’t you trust me with her? I’m perfectly capable of steering’  
‘You can talk to me about steering my boat when you’ve redeemed yourself from wrecking it’  
‘That was _one time_ , and need I remind you I was simultaneously fighting off shadow monsters?’  
‘I steered it just fine in the exact same circumstances’  
‘Oh whatever’ Beakley grumbled, giving in and leaving Donald to steer,  
  
‘Oh but I should mention-‘ she said, turning back around as she headed down the steps, ‘We’re entering the Gyalaich Square, its known for-‘  
‘Unexpected and sudden storms, very little warning, barley a cloud, supernatural stuff – I know, every sailor worth their ship knows about this place’  
‘Yes, that’s why I thought I should let you know’ Beakley smirked, turning her back and continuing to walk down the steps, leaving Donald to seethe in anger.  
  
  
 _‘SURPRISE ATTACK’_  
  
Beakley almost didn’t hear Webby’s battle cry before the child pounced on her from the roof, though registered it just in time to catch her and spin her around, chuckling at her delighted giggles before setting her down on her shoulder.  
‘awww, I thought I got you!’ Webby complained with a smile – trying to surprise her Granny with a surprise attack was her favourite game, and loosing only meant the game went on longer  
‘Well, battle cries generally tend to give away your position’ Her Grandmother advised, coming to rest her hands on the side of the boat and staring out to the sea, ‘I have told you that before, you know’  
‘But they’re so much fun!’ Webby giggled, swinging her legs as she did, ‘You can’t tell me you’ve never yelled a battle cry, like _ever?’_  
‘Never at a time where stealth was of any importance’  
‘ _Ooooooh_ , so you have – what was it?? When was it??? TELL ME EVERYTHING!!’  
  
Beakley chuckled as Webby bobbed up and down in excitement, her eyes glistening and her smile wide, ‘Oh I’ve done it a few times, though the most notable occasion was whilst in Wales early on in my time with SHUSH, a fight had broken out between two neighbouring rural villages and – are you taking _notes?’_  
Webby nodded, a pencil and pad in her hand, ‘Keep going – I need to know every detail’  
Beakley rolled her eyes fondly, but continued all the same ‘I was partnered up with an older Agent – SHUSH pairs all their new recruits with long time Agents to ensure they don’t immediately run off and get themselves killed – and he was the most _awful_ man I’ve ever met’ her face curled up in disgust as Webby began to quickly sketch a duck that looked like a troll next to her pre-existing drawing of her granny, and wrote the words ‘meanie’ with an arrow pointing to the troll-looking one, ‘He would constantly belittle me and show me up on missions – especially the important ones-‘  
‘Can we beat him up?’  
‘Oh no, he’s long since dead’  
‘ _WHOOP WHOOP_!’ Webby cheered, throwing her arms up in the air  
‘Indeed,’ Beakley mused, she could practically hear Donald’s voice in her head telling her that Webby was too young to be cheering over murder, but Beakley didn’t care, Webby was _her_ granddaughter, and besides, she enjoyed it, and what kind of grandmother didn’t support her granddaughters interests?  
‘Anyways,’ she continued, ‘on this particular occasion we were sent to recover drones that had become lost within one of the villages, and _he_ decided it would be a good idea to help one of the villages fight the other, which sounded alright at first, if not completely irrelevant to our mission, until I realised that the village he wanted to help didn’t harbour the nicest of people’  
Beakley glanced over to Webby’s notepad, and saw that Webby’s drawing of her and the troll-looking Agent had developed since she’d last checked, with much more arrows with insults pointing to the troll-looking agent, whilst arrows saying things like ‘Cool’, ‘Really good at kicking butt!!!’ and ‘Did I mention cool’ pointing to the drawing of her, which Beakley noticed Webby had put much more effort into then she had the troll-looking Agent.  
‘So, I snuck out at night and joined the other village, who had only wanted to fight in order to reclaim the land that the other village had stolen, and managed to rally them up to fight back against the other village that same night’  
Webby had now started drawing the two villages fighting against each other, complete with pitch forks and burning torches, and Beakley swore hr granddaughter was drawing her wearing a knight’s suit  
‘We won – obviously – and when the mission was over and I informed Director Von Drake of what had happened, the older Agent was demoted, and I was given a new partner, who _sadly_ happened to be your Uncle’  
  
Webby chose to ignore the part where her Grandmother insulted Scrooge, instead asking ‘So what was your battle cry??’  
‘Something along the lines of ‘for the land of our ancestors’, since the land they wanted to reclaim was a burial ground, and if I’m remembering correctly I shouted it in Welsh’ she sighed reminiscently, ‘Those were the days…’  
Webby gleamed as she held up her notepad to observe her notes, filled with drawings of her Granny (and one or two where she’d inserted her self into the story) and messy notes, complete with scribbles in the margins when she was trying to get her pen to cooperate with her and not run out of ink. Her excitement had not dimmed since the beginning of the story, in fact she seemed to bob even more vigorously now than she had then.  
  
Or was that bobbing not her excitement?  
  
Beakley stiffened, looking out towards the ocean – _really_ looking now, not just resting her eyes in that general direction whilst she lost herself within her own stories – and saw past the bow that dark grey clouds were approaching, and the waters ahead were beginning to roughen, and fast.  
Webby seemed to notice too, looking to her Granny with concern as one by one the other McDucks noticed the Gyalaich Square’s signature sudden storms quickly approached  
  
‘PROTECT THE TREASURE’ Scrooge shouted, dashing towards the chests of gold that no one had had the energy to haul inside, instead leaving them on the open deck and stumbling inside for some much needed rest (and still, hours later when everyone had regained their energy and were going stir crazy from being cooped up, no one had wanted to be the one to have to move it, out of pure stubbornness since “I didn’t leave it there, so I shouldn’t have to move it”)  
  
Beakley heard Donald yell to ‘ _PROTECT THE CHILDREN, NOT YOUR STUPID TREASURE_ ’, which was one thing she wouldn’t argue him on.  
She grabbed Webby from her shoulder and held her in her arms, making a dash for the cabin and picking up the triplets as she went. It didn’t surprise her that none of the children were particularly happy about being carted off away from the action (aside from Louie, who clung to her for dear life), but she was strong and determined enough to ignore them complaining and wriggling to get free, though glad that Webby couldn’t wriggle around enough to meet her gaze and give her any puppydog eyes, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to resist them.  
She opened the door to the Houseboat and threw the children inside, slamming the door behind them as the wind and rain began to pick up. She had a feeling they’d be slightly sore after all was said and done, after all she had thrown them down the stairs, though it didn’t matter, they were safe, and she’d make sure they weren’t injured after all this was over.  
  
Upon turning around she could see Scrooge and Della tying the crates of treasure down to the decks with rope, and her eyes met with Scrooge’s, who glared,  
 _‘DON’T JUST STAND THERE, 22, GEE US A HAND’_  
‘YEAH,’ Della yelled, ‘WE NEED HELP, LADY’  
‘I’M COMING, STOP _SHOUTING'_ she barked back, taking off her glasses and wiping the rain off them as she walked over, not feeling like risking running and slipping on the deck. Wiping the rain off wouldn’t do much long term, as at this point the rain was hammering down, but it gave her a momentary clear view when she put them back on and grabbed hold of a rope that Scrooge threw to her, and reaching to pull it around the crate.  
‘ _WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!’_ Donald yelled from the bridge, _‘GET INSIDE YOU MORONS – BEFORE ONE OF YOU GETS KILLED’_  
‘NO-ONE’S GONNAE GET _KILLED,_ DONALD’ Scrooge screamed back, and at this point the yelling was only half due to the McDuck family’s well known temper, and largely because the storm had grown so strong they could hardly hear over the thundering wind and rain  
‘YOU DON’T KNOW THAT’ Donald shouted, spinning the wheel around as fast as he could to try and ensure that the boat wasn’t hit by the huge wave he saw ahead  
‘YEAH, _WE DO_ ’ Della interjected, ‘NOW JUST SHUT UP AND STEER THE _STUPID BOAT’_  
‘WILL YOU ALL _STOP_ ARGUING’ Beakley grunted as she shoved a crate against the side of the boat so she could tighten it’s rope, ‘IT’S HARDLY GOING TO HELP ANYONE’  
‘WHAT ARE ELSE ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?! SING A HAPPY SONG LIKE GOD DAMN _SMURFS?’_ Della screamed indignantly, hitting the crate as she did, and retaliating against the pain it caused her by stamping her foot at it  
‘IF IT’D BE QUIETER, THEN YES’  
Before Della had time to respond, Scrooge yelled for her to switch sides with him so he could check her ropes, and perhaps because she now had a personal vendetta against that one crate, Della leapt over crates to Scrooge’s side, leaving him to run around them to get to hers.  
  
As Scrooge, who was unlike Beakley in that he ran full speed, made his way around to the other side of the crates with extra rope, he slipped on the decking, and before he was thrown into the depths of the water, Beakley caught him by the hand, hauling him up to her side and letting him use her as balance in order to get to what had previously been the side Della was in charge of roping up. Scrooge grinned, ‘Just like old times, eh 22?’  
‘ _WHAT?_ ’ Beakley yelled, lifting her hair out of her eyes as Scrooge began tightening the ropes,  
‘AH SAID, JUST LIKE OLD TI- _**22 LOOK OUT!’**_  
Beakley looked up in time to see the wave, so much bigger than the Houseboat, but not in time to grab hold of anything to hold herself steady.  
The wave hit her at full force  
  
It hurt, it was heavy  
  
She lost her balance, and the ropes on the treasure she had been tying down lost their grip  
She fell backwards, and the crate did too  
  
It shoved her backwards at full speed, she could hear her family screaming for her as the she fell over the side of the dinky little houseboat  
  


The water was cold and rough, and the crate pushed her down  
  
Down  
  


Down

  
  


Down  
  


But she didn’t care what the crate wanted to do, she was a fighter, and she was an excellent swimmer  
  
She clawed her way out from underneath the crate, using it to push off of and begin swimming to the surface  
  
  


But the crate had shoved her down  
Further than she had at first thought

It was fine, she was an excellent swimmer, she could make it

But she was winded from both the wave and the crate hitting her

She was tired

She wanted to rest

Her arms were weak

Everything was so, so, heavy

She could ignore it

She was a good swimmer

She could make it to the surface

But it was so far away  
Could she make it?

Just as the amount of effort it took to keep swimming became unbearable, she saw someone near the surface of the water, diving down to get her

Who was it?

She’d know if she could just get closer

Just swim a little further

But she couldn’t swim

Who was it?

Was it Scrooge?

Yes

Yes it was

  
It was Scrooge

Scrooge was coming to get her

Everything was going to be fine

She was in good hands

Everything was fine

She could rest…

And then everything went black, and there was no more pain.

**Author's Note:**

> :D  
> Please leave a review if you enjoyed


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